Sorry to bother you again. This will be my last post regarding camera opinion. I don't have an expert eye regarding picture quality. I've seen pictures in other posts that seem fine to me that others indicate needed some tweaking. I'm sure my eye will improve. That being said, I've narrowed my selection for a mega-zoom to the FZ-35 or the Sony HX1. If the cost and features between the two were the same, which in your opinion has better overall picture quality without much tweaking of settings? It would seem that the Sony would be better being a CMOS vs. CCD sensor.

That would be a logical conclusion. Last summer I thought that was true also. Then, I ordered the Sony HX-1 camera, and quickly found out that my conclusion was completely wrong under actual shooting conditions.

The Sony HX-1 looks great on paper. But, in actual use it had less numerically high ISO capability than the Sony H-50 which I also own. The sweep panorama is nice, but not always 100% successful every time. The twilight mode is one of the better features, and it pretty much works as specified. But for the price it features were not features that would be used every day. My Sony H-50, that cost $150 less did just as good a job, so I returned the HX-1 after 3 weeks of use.

Keep in mind that the Panasonic FZ-35 had not been introduced in July 2009, when I had the HX-1. So being a super zoom junkie I was thrilled when the FZ-35 came to market. And now I also own a FZ-35. I sold my FZ-18 and FZ-28 just in the last 30 days. And yep! The FZ-35 is clearly better than the Sony HX-1.

And, Erik, if you are worried about the FZ-35's Flash Range (the distance from camera to subject) with the FZ-35's built-in flash unit, the flash range is 12 to 19 feet based on the numerical ISO setting. Well, I put together a Super Slave Flash Unit (see my separate thread of the Super Slave, please) that increases the FZ-35's Flash Range to 50 feet!

Have a great weekend. Please don't be concerned about asking questions, Erik, I enjoy every one of them. Keep the questions coming!